There are many complex and interrelated functions and structures of the human body that are pertinent to the application of both ventilation and cardiac massage resuscitation techniques and, accordingly to the construction of practice or teaching manikins. One of the features that is sought to be obtained in a such a manikin is a means to simulate head tilting for throat or airway clearance.
The Applicant is the assignee of all interest in European Patent Application Publication #0 306 328, which describes a manikin having a disposable lung bag connected to a hollow head. This manikin was developed for practicing mouth to mouth resuscitation techniques.
The applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,904,898, 3,199,225 and 3,068,590; French patent 1,207,372 and Australian Patent 270,640 relating to other resuscitation training apparatus.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,987 the applicants disclosed an inexpensive, readily portable manikin to serve as a teaching tool for a basic CPR instruction course. The manikin comprised in combination a head means, a chest means, a disposable lung means, and a compression means in which;
the head means has an opening to receive air blown into it by a user, PA0 the chest means is adapted to be removably connected to the head means, PA0 the disposable lung means is adapted to be removably connected to the head means within the chest means, in communication with the opening of the head means, PA0 the compression means is adapted to fit within the chest means to receive compression administered by a user. PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,303--primarily directed to a manikin for teaching abdominal thrust techniques to expel throat lodged food particles, PA0 U.K. Patent Application #2 117 250 A--directed to a manikin in which air is expelled from a ball by compression of the manikin's chest and a pneumatic circuit is provided to measure the force of the compression, PA0 German patent DE 30 49 583 A1--directed to a complex manikin circuit with a pair of bellows. PA0 European Patent Application #0 079 795 A2--which relates to a pneumatic lung analog.
The head means of this manikin was said to be a hollow head which will avail itself to mass production techniques. The head has a mouth and nostril openings for artificial resuscitation. The head has a neck portion which is adapted to be connected to a disposable lung bag to receive the air blown into the head. The neck was also adapted to connect into a opening in the chest means. The chest means was a simple shell to provide a visual impression of a torso with anatomical indicators or reference points to assist one to locate the correct position for hand placement during application of the compression heart massage techniques. The front and back portions of the chest were said to be separated by a resilient compression means.
Other manikins described in the literature known to the Applicant are:
The valve means of this invention is adapted to be an improvement for the manikin disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,987 and European Patent Application Publication #0 306 328. It will be appreciated, however, that the valve means of this invention could be used as an element in other training manikins. The invention provides the advantage of a simple, low cost valve that effectively permits teaching of head tilt to open the airway of the throat of a victim.